Shabar Zaidi, who served as the head of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, has claimed that only a few months after the formation of the PTI government, he then had told Prime Minister Imran Khan that the country is going to be economically bankrupt.
However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Asad Umar, who was the finance minister in the former government, denied these allegations of Shabar Zaidi and termed them as untrue.
Speaking on the talk show ‘Shahzeb Khanzada Ke Saat’ of private TV channel ‘Jeo News’ on Friday night, Shabar Zaidi said: ‘On 26 May 2019, I and Arif Naqvi went to Imran Khan and told him that the country’s economy is in critical condition, is in danger of bankruptcy and will have to go to the IMF.’
According to Shabar Zaidi: ‘Imran Khan said that the question of (IMF) does not arise. I explained to them that this is the position. They asked me for a briefing and the next day I made two or three slides and briefed them.
He added: ‘After my presentation, the Prime Minister called (Federal Finance Minister) Asad Umar and said that he is saying this. Asad Umar told the Prime Minister that he is right. did not tell me, Asad Umar replied to the Prime Minister that I thought you knew, three or four days later Asad Umar was replaced.
Although Shabar Zaidi gave the date of his meeting with former Prime Minister Imran Khan as May 26, 2019 in the interview, he later corrected it on Twitter saying that the meeting took place on April 4 or 5.
On this interview of Shabbar Zaidi, former Federal Finance Minister Asad Umar rejected these claims in a message on Twitter and termed them apparently ‘fabricated’. Addressing the former FBR chairman, he said: ‘Shabarbhai Khairit Hai, where did you invent this story?’
According to Asad Umar: ‘The Tehreek-e-Insaf government was formed in August 2018, at the end of the PTI government, the foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank were 9.8 billion dollars. At the time the foreign exchange reserves were 8.7 billion dollars, where did this story of default come from?’
He raised the question: ‘Foreign exchange reserves were less than three billion dollars during the current government, yet if there was no default in the payment of loans, how could there be a default of 8.7 billion dollars?’
Hello Shabarbhai, where did this story come from? The Tehreek-e-Insaf government was formed in August 2018, at the end of which the foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank were 9.8 billion dollars. The month I left the finance ministry was April 2019, at the end of which the foreign exchange reserves stood at $8.7 billion. It came from the default story?… pic.twitter.com/ougIJeM7Yp
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) July 28, 2023
Shabbar Zaidi further said in the interview that if the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had remained, the country would have been economically destroyed by the end of the term.
He claimed that PTI Chairman Imran Khan used to be given suggestions but he was in no mood to listen at that time.
“The tax files of PML-N members (Parliament) were demanded, (Imran Khan’s advisor on accountability) Shahzad Akbar used to sit on a sofa, Chairman PTI would call him and say that Shahzad is saying this. , tell me what to do.’
The former head of FBR said that after he sent a notice to the big landlord of Multan, 40 MLAs came under the leadership of PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi. “Nasrullah Dareshk told me that you are still a child, it is not your business.”
He further said that the MNAs came with the former speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser for trying to bring the tobacco mafia into the tax net and said that they cannot pay taxes, while in the tribal areas, 20 of FATA’s steel re-rolling mills were seized. The senators approached the Chairman Tehreek-e-Insaf to stop Shabbar Zaidi.
Shabbar Zaidi said that no government in Pakistan has the courage to confront the retail shopkeepers and impose income tax on them. “When any government starts doing that, they shut down the shutters, which governments are afraid of.”
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“A meeting with the DGC was attended by traders’ representatives. Traders representative stood up and said that I pay tax only in electricity bill, no other tax. The DGC asked me to postpone the matter.’
Shabarzedi further said that on this occasion, the former prime minister said: ‘Do what you can, I am afraid of Fazlur Rehman’s sit-in. The former prime minister told me to go and negotiate with Jahangir Tareen. Said to defer for a couple of months.
Shabar Zaidi said that there is a shortage of flour when the flour goes to and from Afghanistan, while the annual consumption of gold in Pakistan is four and a half tons, but not even one tola of gold is imported into Pakistan, then where does this gold come from?
“Jewelers say how can they pay tax when they don’t have the receipt and that’s fine.”
Shabbar Zaidi said: ‘Sometimes I used to see the Prime Minister (Imran Khan) being unemployed, I have come to the conclusion today that there are mafias who run the governments.’
He said that scrap goes from Punjab, there are factories in Jamrud (Kyber district), Saria is made there, they neither pay electricity bill nor tax.
‘No default until December 2023’
Talking about the current government’s economic policies, Shabbar Zaidi said that there will be no default till December (2023), but very disturbing situations are visible ahead.
The paper that the IMF people have made is for your favor, when March 2024 comes, then the IMF will talk about what they intend to do, the IMF people have not come out fully yet. , the problem is that they are saying that the money will have to be raised from the market, the IMF has put you in a corner to come to the austerity program in March.’
PTI’s response
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has termed Shabbar Zaidi’s speech as ‘against facts’ and a desperate attempt to create distorted perceptions regarding the economic strategy of Tehreek-e-Insaf.
In a statement on Twitter, PTI said: ‘Shabbar Zaidi’s contradictory and baseless claims are signs of a confused mind.
“The objections raised by Shabarzaidi on the economic strategy of Tehreek-e-Insaaf are not mentioned in his resignation. It would have been better if Shabarzaidi had taken the trouble to look at the facts before criticizing with a confused mind.”
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s response to Shabbar Zaidi’s talk in Geo News program “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Ke Saath”
Shabarzedi’s speech is a desperate attempt to establish distorted perceptions regarding the economic strategy of Tehreek-e-Insaaf against the facts.
Shabar Zaidi’s contradictory and baseless claims are a confusing…
— PTI (@PTIofficial) July 28, 2023
The tweet further said that ‘Shabrizidi should talk on the basis of facts in the national debate instead of gaining attention by making baseless allegations.
Addressing Shabbar Zaidi in the statement of PTI, it was said that instead of spreading lies, take time to study the annual economic survey published by the government of Pakistan and the IMF report. The restoration of Pakistan’s economy is possible not by insisting on unrealistic claims and speculations, but by accepting reality and being willing to correct mistakes. ‘